Every Rose has her thorn a Harry Potter fanfic
by MissMBlack
Summary: Rosie Weasley. Scorpius Malfoy. Its not that hard to pick up.
1. Chapter 1  Flourish and Blotts'

It was a hot day in London, and as Rosie Weasley made her way down Diagon Alley, it felt like it was only getting hotter. She hauled herself from shop to shop, getting the equipment that was on her list for this year at Hogwarts. She was deliberately trying to avoid walking past any shops her grandmother could try and fuss her into. She sped past Madame Malkin's robe store, and almost threw herself into Flourish and Blott's book store in a violent attempt to avoid her family (she was at the point of teenage angst, where all relatives ceased to be interesting and got on her nerves instantaneously).

Rosie turned round to see her grandmother, aunt and youngest cousin stood outside the robes shop, observing a blue dress. The three red headed women, old and young, stood out against the powder blue fabric of the dress like a sore thumb. Making sure all three of them were thoroughly distracted she turned round into the book store with a swoop of her mahogany, mid-length, bushy hair; she plunged herself into the smell of books. Thousands upon thousands of pages were in this room, old and new, and covered with millions upon millions of words. Words that Rosie could find some sort of escape in. She pulled her wand out of her boot, she wore cowboy boots during the summer; not only were they comfortable, fashionable and practical, they were great for concealing a wand. She walked around the book shop reading the list of books she needed for the next year of study at Hogwarts.

She flicked her wand every now and again when she thought she may have passed a book on her list, it would prise itself from the shelf and float behind her in a pile of books that was quickly increasing in size. She found a nice, comfortable window seat and let her pile of books plonk down next to her, and burrowed her nose into a book that she was pretty sure would come in useful at some random point in her life. She simply couldn't get enough knowledge of the wizarding world; the more she knew, the more she could find solitude in her mind when the whole world is too loud. She must have been lost to the world, buried in that leather bound book, for a good half an hour, and decided to try and find that one book that had eluded her while she prowled around the store. She closed her book, placed it on top of the pile and began hunting through the shelves once again.

She ran her hand over the yellowing pages of books, and over white crisp pages, skin reading the author's names as she walked. She saw a relatively familiar name and stopped abruptly in front of it. It was a history book, a history of magical law enforcement.

"There you are! You crafty little thing you!" she gave an excited whisper, and plunged her hand into the bookshelf, bending to get a better look at the heavy bound book. She ducked down and greedily starred at it, wanting to devour every word with her eyes. She saw in the gap of the bookshelf, between one layer and the other, a pair of uncomfortably familiar blue-grey tint eyes. She almost jumped back in fright when she met their gaze.

"Hey there, Weasley" said the voice that matched the eyes all too well. Rosie jumped a little, but contained it enough so as to not provoke some snide remarks from the blonde boy who stood on the other side of the bookshelf.

"Malfoy," Rosie acknowledged him curtly, and tried to avoid anymore interaction with him; he was the reason her years in Hogwarts had been made so painfully uncomfortable. It was a long and awkward tale that had clearly occurred between their parents, but had left the children scarred against each other; the house rivalry probably wouldn't help anything between the children either. Many inter-house tiffs had occurred between Slytherin and Gryffindor because of the Potter-Weasley and Malfoy feud, all of them ugly and all of them totally unnecessary.

She continued looking for her books and walked away from the shelf, book in hand and tried to talk herself into believing that Malfoy's footsteps weren't rounding the bookshelf and perched herself on the edge of the window seat.

Scorpius Malfoy, tall blonde and athletic, sauntered over to where Rosie sat, who was trying her best to ignore the urge to start a duel in the middle of Flourish and Blott's. Malfoy leaned against a bookshelf, his black turtleneck shirt and black jeans gave him a silhouette feel as he propped himself against the wall.

"Weasley, I never managed to congratulate you at the end of the year." He smirked and flicked his eyebrows, trying to egg Rosie on. She glared at him with the fury of a blast ended skrewt.

"Congratulate me? Congratulate me, for what?" she snapped. Malfoy had picked the wrong Weasley to goad. He smirked at her.

"Congratulate you on that duel at the end of the year. That was some pretty complicated magic you tried there, and I'm impressed you lost so graciously." He gave a lopsided smile as he provoked the matter. It was about as safe to provoke Rosie Weasley as it was to poke a Hungarian Horntail.

"I think you'll find the magic I performed wasn't illegal. Your friend Zabini, on the other hand, I'm pretty sure his court case for trying to use an unforgivable curse is still underway." Rosie gave a proud little flick of her head, putting her nose up a little. She was right. She knew she was right, and so did Scorpius, but their problems were that neither of them liked to lose. Ever. Scorpius chuckled, a low chuckle that always did odd things to Rosie's stomach.

"Rosie. That was a total misunderstanding." He laughed. Rosie's face was beginning to flush crimson with anger.

"What could possibly be misunderstood by having the killing curse shot in my direction?" she nearly yelled.

"It could be misunderstood that he wasn't actually aiming at you." He had an overly calm note in his voice.

"So, because he was aiming at my cousins or my brother, a first year, it makes it all just a tiny misunderstanding?"

Scorpius' face faltered a little. His smile was quite as easy and self assured as it has been a matter of seconds before.

"You'd better leave me alone Scorpius, before Albus and James get her." Rosie warned. Scorpius' eyes narrowed a little,

"Is that a threat Weasley?" Scorpius asked his eyes narrow and desperately trying to beg for a staring match. There was a tinkle of bells at the front door of Flourish and Blotts', and Albus and James potter came through, glancing this way and that looking for Rosie, their cousin.

"Nothing of the kind Scorpius," Rosie gave a sarcastic smile, "it's just Albus and James are much more likely to hold a grudge than I am, and are much more likely to draw their wand out at you in public. Just some useful information for you. Oh. Here they are now!" she smiled and gave a little nod in her cousin's direction. Scorpius turned.

"Fine. I'll see you at school Weasley." He gave a crooked smile and walked away. She watched the blonde, tall figure saunter away, he was picking up books as he left, going to the till where a dark haired witch (most probably his mother) waited with another pile of books. Rosie was beginning to stare at the way his shirt moulded over the lean shape of this shoulders and back. She blinked rapidly. What on earth was that for? They were just shoulders. It was just a back. It was only Malfoy.

She turned back to her huge pile of books. She was sure she had more shopping to do, but she was content with the list she had managed to tick off in this shop alone. She'd be on the train to Hogwarts in two days and only had a few hours before she had to meet her mother and father back at the muggle hotel they were staying in for the weekend. Her brother, Hugo, would probably be around somewhere, most probably entertaining himself at their uncle's joke shop; leaving his important shopping till the last minute. Typical.

She charmed the books to fly next to her again and made her way to the till, pulling her purse out of her bag as they walked. Albus and James had finally spotted her, and almost flew to her.

Her cousins, on a good two years older than the other, jumped in front of her. James, the oldest, stood just a few inches taller than Albus, and had his mother's eyes, his dad's unruly hair and his uncle's humour. James was the first to break the blissful momentary silence,

"Rosie," his deep friendly voice slid itself through this mouth, "I wouldn't look now, but Malfoy's here." He warned. His voice and stance gave this impression that he thought Rosie was going to explode in a nuclear reaction, as though someone had cast a measly incendio charm on a million barrels of napalm.

"I know," she said calmly, her wand was in her hand, she couldn't afford to get angry, "the ferret already stopped by to say hello." She finished and nodded to Albus, "You got everything on your list yet, Al?" she asked, desperately trying to change the subject, she could feel her ears going red (a sign she inherited from her father, and a sign that everyone knew meant she was getting incredibly angry) and her stomach still felt odd.

Not one of the three of them had any clue why they referred to Malfoy as 'the ferret', they'd all just heard their fathers call Malfoy a ferret, and they all just supposed they might as well let it stick. He'd only ever heard them call him that once, or at least once that they had known he'd heard them. That was when they had their first duel in their third year. Many detentions were given that day.

Albus just nodded, "Yeah got everything. You know you shouldn't be using magic outside school." He winked.


	2. Chapter 2  Happy families

Rosie Weasley woke up early on the morning of september the first. She got her brother up and out of bed, and demanded her father make his famous pancakes for the last time before they had to leave for school. The hotel room they were staying in had a small kitchen, just big enough to bother for pancakes and maybe a microwave pizza or two.

"Come on Ronald. Get up." her mother pulled the covers off him, "Get up Ron!" she nearly yelled. Ron gave some grumpy mutters that Rosie was pretty sure was an uninterupted chain of profanity. She gave a smile. Her mother hugged her tightly.

"Goodmorning angel. How did you sleep, my little prefect?" she asked, pulling away to smooth Rosie's hair over her ear. Rosie got her brown, waving mass of hair from her mother.

"I'm fine thanks mum" she smiled again. She hand't told either of her parents about the incident with Malfoy the other day, that had left her thoroughly grumpy and irratable. Her father, Ron, had told her on her very first day of Hogwarts, not to get too friendly with the Malfoy boy. She had done her best for years not to show too much fondness or friendliness to Scorpius, and had started the summer with every tintention of giving him the permanent cold shoulder; but Scorpius had seemed different in the bookstore. He wasn't quite as cocky and rude. Still arrogant. He was still Malfoy afterall. That was to be expected.

She downed her pancakes and some pumpkin juice then skipped back to the room her and her brother were sharing. he was sat playing with his new pet toad. She grimaced. Frogs, Rosie could stand, but toads were another thing entirely. Rosie walked over to her bed. The bedside table had been invaded by her pet owl's cage. The owl on the inside of the cage was fast asleep, well at least, it seemed to be.

"Wakey- wakey Tybalt!" she gently called to him and stroked the cage. There was minimal movement as Tybalt lifted his head from beneath his wing and gave Rosie a little glare with on bright topaz eye.

"Oh, come off it Tybalt! You know you wouldn't want to be woken up by me moving your cage arund and boarding you onto a train." she spoke to him like a friend; he was a life saver whenever she'd felt lonely during the summer just gone. He gave her the silent treatment and tucked his head back under his wing and ruffled himself back under the black comfort of his feathers.

"You're not still mad at me for not letting you out last night are you?" she asked. He didn't move too much, not even acknowledging her this time, "Tyblat! Don't be so rude. You know how wierd it'd look with an owl flitting around inner city London!" she gave Tybalt a disapproving look, and groped around in her jacket pocket for an owl treat. She threw it to Tybalt, who had clearly been trying to get a treat out of sympathy for a while now, and he caught it with a snap of his beak.

Rosie continued getting ready, pulling on a dark grey school skirt, a bright white blouse and her red and gold Gryffindor tie. Hugo was in the bathroom, so Rosie was not at risk of exposing herself to he little brother. He was going into his second year at Hogwarts, and was the spitting image of their father. He came out of the bathroom, half dressed and frantically drying his hair with a towel.

"Oh!" Rosie cried in disgust, "Hugo! For god's sake, put your clothes on in the bathroom!" she covered her eyes with her hand and grimaced some more.

"I didn't think you'd still be in here! Besides, its not as if I'm in here flinging my bosoms about!" he yelled.

Rosie burst into a fit of the giggles. Hugo had been trying not to talk too much during the summer. His voice had broken, and every few words it would crack and he'd give a little squeak of a word. It was incredibly funny to Rosie, but it made Hugo get so embarassed, he'd fly into a temper at his sister laughing at him. Suddenly a red faced Hugo flung himself at Rosie, a mass of flame coloured curls headed right into her stomach as he charged at her. The two of them ended up on the floor in a fist fight. Hands flailing and grasping, feet kicking and jabbing and an awful lot of cussing and tumbling.

Hermione stood at the door, watching them brawling on the floor and counting to ten under her breath.

"...ten! Rosie and Hugo Weasley, you stop fighting at once! You're being absolutely rediculous!" she yelled. The two of them froze, mid-brawl, and looked up at their mother, bearing overly done cheesy smiles (trying to look innocent when caught red handed, something they'd seen their uncle try on many occasions)

"Rosie was laughing at my voice!" Hugo said, trying to keep his voice low pitched and pulling himself out of the knot he and Rosie had found themselves in. Rosie jumped to stand up right, pointing at her brother, frantically thinking and looking for some way to pin this all on her brother.

"Rosie, don't make fun of your brother. Hugo, please try not to pulverise your sister's guts; she has to go to school today." Hermione gave the two of them a warning look with one of her eyebrows arched high, "Now. Both of you, finish packing. The train leaves at eleven o'clock exactly and its very nearly ten." she walked out of the room, leaving the two of them to get ready and to calm down.


	3. Chapter 3  It's been too long

Rosie pushed her trolley through King's Cross Station, her trunk and owl cage, and various other boxes strapped tightly and neatly onto it. Her brother was a step or two behind her, her mum and dad talking and laughing with him. There was a speedy clicking of heels behind her as Hermione sped up to walk with Rosie. She gave her daughter a light nudge and pushed the trolley with her.

"So Rosie. O. this year!" Hermione smiled at her daughter, "Important year Rosie." she looked straight ahead towards the barrier.

She was refering to the exams that Rosie would be sitting at the end of the year. The exams were hugely important, and would shape Rosie's life as a witch. Hermione had been trying to impress on Rosie the importance of doing well on these exams, as if Rosie had not heard it hundreds upon hundreds of times before. Rosie knew how very important these exams wre and was on target to achieve at least 'E's in her all of her exams ( 'E's stood for exceeds expectations, which is the equivalent to a 'B' for muggles, as her mother had told her). She was stressing out enough about the year without her mother constantly reminding her about the exams.

"Yeah, I know mum." Rosie said in the arrogant teenage way girls always do when they've heard something for the millionth time.

"Just try your best, angel, your father and I can't ask anymore from you than that. Study hard, keep us posted, and don't get into anymore fights!" she said the final part almost exasperatedly. They were near the barrier between platforms nine and ten, the way to platform nine and three-quarters. Rosie sped up, knowing that the sooner she got onto the platform, the sooner she'd get on the train; and the sooner she got on the train, the sooner her mother would stop pestering her about her exams.

She positively ran at the wall between platforms nine and ten and pushed through muggles throwing herself through bricks that wouldn't so much as touch Rosie. She plunged herself into the clatter, and bustle and loud friendly noises of the station. her mother was a step or two behind her and Rosie tried to evade her just a little longer, pushing her way through people, getting her luggage to the cargo hold quickly, plucking her rucksack off of the trolley and blew a kiss to Tybalt,

"See you soon Tybalt, won't be long until we're at Hogwarts." she smiled and passed the cage over to the man dressed in red who was loading the train. Hermione found her again and hugged her close.

"Have a lovely start to the year angel," she said into Rosie's hair, "write to us soon, and please- don't start anymore fights!" she finished as Ron came and gave Rosie a huge hug too. Ron gave Rosie a quick kiss on her cheek, his ginger stubble gently scratching her face,

"have a good 'un Rose. Remember," he said, " if that Malfoy boy gives you any trouble, you can always punch him in the face." he gave a low chuckle. Hermione glared at him, "Oh, like you're totally innocent!" he laughed again.

"Off you go you two," Hermione said, her face a little pink, and Rosie had no idea what her father could have said that could have made her blush like that, "the train leaves in ten minutes! Albus, James and Lily are already on board. Go on!" she smiled, "Go get some seats, don't forget Rosie- prefects' compartment."

All four of them had a hug together before the two Weasley children had to jump onto the train that was begining to make definate sounds of wanting to move. Rosie and Hugo boarded it, waving to their parents through the glass pane of the door before trying to find a compartment. They walked down the carriage, and Rosie found herself talking to thin air after Hugo was ambushed by a bunch of loud and funny second year Gryffindor boys. Rosie blushed, hoping that no-one had noticed her talking to herself, and looked frantically for her friends. She walked past a couple of compartments, laughter and squealing and excitable catch-ups tickled her ears. She was perfectly happy just walking along, looking for her friends, but felt a suddne tug on her wrist. She whipped round to see who on earth it was.

A petite, dark haired witch, with dark brown eyes and ivorry skin stood behind her, face beaming with excitement, and sporting the same Gryffindor uniform as Rosie. The two of them squealed and hugged each other,

"Oh. My. God!" Natalie cried, joyous to finaly be back with her bestfriend, "its been ages since I last saw you!" she squealed again, letting go of Rosie and pulling her into a carriage where a few other familiar faces were, all laughing and talking.

"I know!" Rosie beamed, "I've missed you all so much!" She smiled at her friends. All of them Gryffindors, Ravenclaws or Hufflepuffs, it didn't really suprise her that there weren't any Slytherins in their midst.

Two pale blonde, daydreamy lookin Ravenclaw boys sat side by side in the compartment, reading the newest edition of the Quibbler. Lorcan and Lysander, the Lovegood twins, were dewy eyes, other worldly Ravenclaws; that were just as barmy as their mother. But Rosie wouldn't have her friends any other way. It made sense for them to be off their head every now and again. It was second nature to join in with the insanity sometimes, but she knew that they were right for Ravenclaw; barmy or not, they were by far the most intelligent people she knew.

Another Ravenclaw that she recognised sat next to the window, staring out of it sullenly as they moved. She was one of Rosie's bestfriends, and Rosie knew exactly why she looked so unbearably miserable. Her friend's shortdark blonde curls were clipped back, no make-up tinted her lightly tanned face, and a definate moist eye and sad pout were spread over her expression. Layla didn't look happy at all. Her girlfriend, a Hufflepuff from their year, had transferred to Beauxbatons during the summer, and Layla was not looking forward to the long distance relationship. Rosie waved at Layla, hoping for a smile, a response at least. She mearly turned her head, looked at Rosie and turned back to stare out of the window.

Albus was in there too. Albus was in Gryffindor, the same year as Rosie, and alongside Natalie and James, was her closest friend. She gave him a wink and chucked her bag into the space next to him. She opened it and pulled out her black Gryffindor jumper and long black cloak. she got the remainder of her uniform on and sat down between Albus and Natalie.

"So, how were all your summers?" she asked, and the whole carriage sprung to life with laughter and happy voices again.

Lorcan and Lysander had spent the sumer with their parents, trecking Nepal, studying gravity resistant trees and looking for the Abominable snowman. According to the twins he was most definately real; they'd found tracks, droppings, hair and everything- they just hadn't found him yet.

Natalie had spend her summer with her family on holiday in Italy. She'd been to Rome, Venice and had spent a day or two in Pompe.

"You would have loved it Rosie!" she gave an excited squeal, "The sun. The heat. The boys..." she winked at Rosie, who just laughed; she wasn't really looking for any kind of relationship at the moment. She'd had a relationship the year before with David McClaggon, and it had gone terribly wrong, leaving both of them not talking to the other; what ever kind of friendship that could have been salvaged, burnt by the heat of Rosie's arguementative nature, and David's unresponsive and arrogant character.

There had, however, been about as much heat and chemistry in their relationship as there were salamanders in the black lake, and in all honesty, Rosie was quite glad to be rid of him. She'd worked so hard to make any kind of relationship pheasable, but never had any co-operation from the sloth-like, boggart faced, egotistical McClaggon and was glad that she finally had some space to rethink what she wanted out of life. She tried to ignore the stinging behind her eyes as she thought about how much time and energy she had exerted to try and make herself believe that she actually loved David. She was half listening to Natalie's ramble about how perfect Italy was, when Albus nudged her,

"C'mon Rosie," he said, pulling himself to stand up, "we've got to get to the prefect's carriage!" he gave a half enthusiastic smile, "Don't want to be late. Besides, I'm really interested to know who the prefects from the other houses are." he pulled her up. They waved quickly to their freinds and stepped out into the walkway.

Albus was wearing his uniform with black sneakers and a few muggle band badges on the crest side of his cloak. He was a good few inches taller than Rosie; he'd had a growth spurt during the summer, and was starting to fill to an athletic figure, just a little slimmer than his brother's. Rosie had spent the summer with her cousins; she'd helped Albus with quidditch training and had done her best to help James with his new fitness regime- it seemed the two brothers were having a competition as to who could get a six pack clad chest and overly firm upper arm muscles first. They were teenage boys after all, so competition and an obsession with physical fitness was all to be expected with quidditch playing, Gryffindor lads with famous parents. His hair was an unruly, spiked mess of jet black, and he'd grown his hair to just brush over his eye- Rosie would most probably be the one he'd turn to to get it cut, when he finally accepts that his new fringe annoyed him.

They walked in silence, both of them focussing on finding the prefect's cabbin. It was particularly hard to find. Rosie had heard that Hufflepuffs were particularly good finders, and wondered if they were Hufflepuffs; would they find it any quicker. They went past a carriage full of Slytherins, they were in the same year as Rosie and Albus, she recognised some of them from her classes. A few of them noticed Albus and Rosie walking by; they stopped talking and glared as if Rosie and Al were a disgusting smell underneath their noses. Rosie found herself walking past slowly, glancing in looking for a pale, blonde haired face, and was suprised at the way her chest felt when she realised he wasn't in there. She noticed Albus was a few strides infront of her and she ran the distance to catch up with him.


	4. Chapter 4

Rosie Weasley and Albus Potter walked through the glass paned door of the prefect's cabin on the Hogwarts express, their badges gleaming on their ties. Scorpius was lounging in the space next to the window, across from him sat his fellow Slytherin prefect; a girl who Scorpius recognised as one of the many girls who had tried and failed to claim him for her own. His arms were bent, keeping his hands behind his head, one knee crossed over the other, a very relaxed and easy stance that always washed over Scorpius Malfoy. As he opened his eyes a little to see Rosie Weasley walk into the cabin, he tried harder to maintain that composure and carefree facade he was wearing, his heart began to beat a little faster and harder. She was an inch or two shorter than average height, on the slightly curved side of slim, and her dark brown curls hung just around the end of her shoulder blades. Her skin was pale and over her nove and the tops of her cheeks were brushed with freckles.

Scorpius had never mentioned it to his friends, but when it came to Rosie Weasley... he liked what he saw. He liked it a lot. He smiled to himself when she and her cousin had to get seats in the compartment. The only two seats available were next to him; Rosie gave him a dark look, that Scorpius had more trouble reading than usual, and pushed herself further into the compartment. Scorpius saw Rosie meet glances with a Ravenclaw boy who sat on the other side of the compartment from a Hufflepuff a few seats away from himself. If Scorpius had thought that the look Rosie had given him before was scary, he was most definately glad he wasn't that poor Ravenclaw boy. Her glare was deadly enough to scare a manticore out of its senses, and he'd only ever seen her that angry once, and it had not ended well for the other people involved.

It had been a messy duel involving an incredibly stupid and loud mouthed Slytherin, who had caused the incident by calling Rosie's best friend Natalie a 'mudblood'. An incendio charm had never seemed quite so docile and plain to Scorpius again after watching the duel Rosie was in.

Scorpius wondered what the poor sod could have possibly done to encure the wrath of Miss Weasley, and decided he'd snoop into it later. Pretty sure that he'd seen Rosie walking around Hogwarts with the Ravenclaw boy, before the end of tem, he resumed his totally easy sprawl in the corner of the compartment; smiling to himself as Rosie sat next to him. He looked at her through a sliver of light between his eyelids. The light from the oil lamp in the compartment cast a lightly orange golden glow on Rosie's face, catching fire to the flecks of auburn and ruddy gold in her hair. It was a carless, tousled, bitter chocolate coloured mass of locks that she'd normally sport in a loose curling bun or pin a few locks out of her face leaving it out; but today her fringe hung over her eye, the eye closest to Scorpius.

He was imagininghow he'd tuck her hair behind her ear and chance a look in her green eyes, the eyes that had been alive with fire during the chance encounter in Flourish and Blott's. He was enjoying the light and tender experience of butterflies in his stomach right until the moment that it felt like the crest on his cloak was searing itself into his chest. He was a slytherin. She was a gryffindor. He was a Malfoy; pureblood, dark magic and slytherin blood was all that remained of his family heritage, and had smeared itself all over his name. She was Rosie Weasley; gryffindor, muggleborn mother and a 'bloodtraitor' father, despite her tendancy to fly off the handle, she was warmth, light, magical and muggle co-operation. A new idea of acceptance that Scorpius feared his medieval minded pure blooded, elitest family would never contemplate.


	5. Chapter 5

Rosie had a sneaky feeling that, as the lights from Hogsmaede were getting brighter and closer, she could feel Scorpius' eyes on her; just through a snip of space between his eyes. It unnerved her, but she felt the strange sensation of liking the attention. She tried to ignore him, and watched her cousin Albus talking to a Hufflepuff girl he was sat next to. He was blatently flirting, trying out his new tricks he'd picked up from his brother during the summer, and new lines from their uncle who worked in Romania. Clearly they either were working, but she was painfully shy... or he was failing abismally and the poor blonde girl was trying hard not to laugh. Rosie was pretty sure she'd seen the Hufflepuff girl in some of her classes, but decided to watch the lights of Hogsmeade through the window; cringing every now and again as Albus tried another cheesy chat up line.

She stared out of the window, hoping to see the friendly lights from the castle beaming out to her. It was so dark outside, night had crept upon her during her nap, and half the people had left the prefect's carriage to patrol the rest of the train. Rosie, Scorpius, Albus and a the boy prefect from Hufflepuff were the only four left. Rosie wiped her mouth, hoping that she hadn't drooled during her sleep, and sat up straight, and wipped around to make sure Albus hadn't left her alone with Scorpius; heaven knows what would have happened had they been alone to talk to five minutes. They were only an hour or so away from the castle and she was sure that soon she'd be in a carriage with her friends and could stop worrying about Malfoy or McClaggon, and would be back to school not having to keep up the appearance of being a muggle. She felt a little flutter in her stomach when she looked over at Scorpius. He was asleep in his seat too. He didn't look quite half so menacing when he was asleep. His blonde hair flopped over his face, his mouth content and almost smiling. He almost looked friendly when he wasn't awake. He didn't have the sarcastic, aggressive expression that Rosie had grown so very used to; but this quiet, serene, happy looking Malfoy, Rosie could most certainly get used to.

She was watching the way his eyes shuffled and fluttered under his eyelids, whilst trying to make it look like she was staring out of the window, when Albus shook her arm. She turned to him, he looked some what dopey and tired too.

"Hey, you want me to go and get your bag from the other carriage?" he asked, pointing to the direction they had come from with his thumb. As much as Rosie hated the idea of houselves having to work when they have no choice, she simply couldn't be bothered hauling her bag into the the Great Hall. She shook her nead. She just contented herself with the fact she had her wand and her iPod with her (she loved iPods, they were even capable of uploading some wizard bands music), and sleepily told Albus that she'd be fine, she'd probably find it in her dormitory later. Albus walked out, leaving just Rosie, Scorpius and the sleeping Hufflepuff. The dark haired Hufflepuff looked like he was a deep sleeper, so Rosie thought it would be perfectly fine to plug her earphones in, and start blasting some music; numbing the awkward feeling that had washed over her when she saw David in the compartment. She hadn't known he was going to be a prefect, she had the awful feeling that this year at Hogwarts as going to get a whole lot more complicated. She watched Scorpius sleeping for a little longer, but looked away sharply when he started to move and wake up.

"Hey there Weasley," he said lazily and drowsily as he streched and yawned, flexing back into an upright position, "I got the feeling you'd be a prefect this year." he gave her a look, a look Rosie couldn't read. Normally she could tell if he was being sarcastic, or if he was dead-pan serious. But she though maybe he was just oddly neutral because he had just woken up from what was quite clearly a nice man-nap.

"I'm suprised you were asked to be a prefect," Rosie retorted quietly, trying not to cause a scene or to wake up the snoozing Hufflepuff, "considering all of the fights you've started, and the fact that you clearly aren't quite capable of not cheating in any single quidditch match." she glared at him. Glaring at him was the only way she could stop herself from looking at himthe same way she'd stared at him during his sleep. If he knew that Rosie had been looking at him with dewy eyes and a half smile, her reputation would be ruined. He'd rub it in that hard core Weasley had been staring at Scorpius Malfoy while he slept. She had to glare, or her eyes would become too soft. 'don't get too friendly' her father's voice echoed around her head. Scorpius gave a smile and pulled his arms back to rest his hands behind his head,

"Rosie, Rosie, Rosie," he smirked at her. She wasn't going to admit this, but him saying her name like that made her head feel a little dizzy. She wasn't sure if she liked feeling dizzy. She'd never felt dizzy around someone before. "Rosie, yes, I've started fights, and yes, I maybe haven't played so cleanly in quidditch matches. But there's also the fact that I am a good pupil. I've never got anything below and 'E' before and clearly, the headmaster favoured this." he smiled. Rosie used to find it incredibly hard to believe that Scorpius Malfoy could be intellient; she had always seen him as a dim witted, egotistical prick, and had tried her utmost to ignore how well he strung sentences together. They sat for a moment or two in silence before Scorpius spoke again,

"Weasley, I can't help but notice. You know that Ravenclaw boy that you gave such a friendly glare to, what had he ever done to you?"

"What does it matter to yo Malfoy? It's personal." she hissed. She didn't really want to talk about McClaggon, and she most certainly didn't want Scorpius to see her upset.

"Just wondering. Seeing how we're prefects we should really be able to help each other, so that we can get the job of looking after the school and other pupils done with out the hinderence of silly tiffs. Besides, I thought that was McClaggon. David McClaggon, the Ravenclaw boy you were so friendly with during last year?" Scorpius asked. Rosie turned away from him, believing there to be a smirk of glee in his eyes, imagining what hurt this must have caused Rosie.

"So what if it is?" Rosie said harshly, "It's not going to affect my performance as a prefect." she snapped. She tried to keep her eyes void of tears. If she cried, he'd hear the tears in her voice, then she'd be open for mockery from the one person she could garuntee it would be absolutely no work for them to dish out.

"Rosie, I-" Scorpius tried to say something, but Rosie cut across him.

"The train is slowing down. We're drawing into Hogsmeade, you should really get your cloak on. We'll be at the castle in a little while." she said quickly, walking even quicker out of the compartment, letting Scorpius watch her as she left. She couldn't talk about David. She just couldn't. She hadn't thought about it until then, but she had trusted him. She had put so much trust into her first relationship. So much effort and trust and love that she'd carefully nurtured and fed and tried so hard to give to someone else; but it had been thrown away. Just thrown away like it meant nothing. She didn't want to think about it. She didn't want to think about how much she felt she couldn't trust people anymore. She didn't want to express how much she felt she couldn't rely on men, she couldn't confide in men. The only boy she told anything now, was Albus; her bestfriend and cousin. She told him everything, but she was not going to give Scorpius Malfoy the pleasure of seeing her cry. She walked briskly to the door a few yards away from the compartment as the train drew to a standstill.


	6. Chapter 6

Rosie jumped off the train at Hogsmeade station, and held open the door for the other students. She didn't look them in the eye, she just held the door open whilst floods of first years in their plain black uniforms, with their plain black cloaks and no house ties, excited about being sorted into a house. She remembered how excited she was to be going into Hogwarts, but also how scared she was about ending up in the 'right house'. She was affraid of the sorting hat, Rosie had never been more affraid of a peice of clothing before in her life, but she was affraid of the sorting hat. She was so affraid that she wouldn't end up in the house her father had wanted, so affraid that she'd be a family disgrace; she nearly puked on her way across the black lake in the boats, and once again on her way up the great hall between two of the tables. She began to wonder what it would have been like if she'd been sorted into a different house. Perhaps, would things have been less complicated if she were in Slytherin? Would she be in less fights if she were in the meek and humble Hufflepuff? Would her mother have stopped lecturing her about her exams had she been placed in the witty, all knowing Ravenclaw? Her mind had been in a thousand million different places and could-have-beens and was woken up suddenly and crashed back down to earth when James and Natalie jumped infront of her waving infront of her daydreaming eyes.

"Wake up dolly daydream!" James laughed, "The little 'uns are off the train now, we can go get into a carriage, c'mon!" Natalie held her hand when James walked away quickly to catch up with his seventh year friends. Natalie gave Rosie an all knowing look.

"Everything okay?" she asked, guiding Rosie to a black open top carriage that seemed to have arrived there completely by itself. Natalie knew things were not okay, she could always tell when Rosie was upset, even if Rosie hadn't even acknowledged it to herself yet. They had been best friends since they were in their second year, and so Natalie had had plenty of experience to Rosie's wild and frequent mood swings.

"Yeah, everything's fine," Rosie lied, trying not to put her head up, knowing she had tears streaming down her face. She wasn't crying because she had left David, she was crying because she knew he'd felt nothing when she walked away. That was the reason she cried so much these days. She had felt too much for the wrong person, and had nothing else to do about it other than cry. "Yeah, I'll be fine." She smiled at Natalie, wiping her tears from her eyes with the sleeve of her robe. It was hard not to spew everything to Natalie about what had happened in the book shop, what had happened just then on the train, and how she was getting a little bit giddy seeing Malfoy walking past them just that moment. She saw Albus, the twins and Layla all sat in a small black carriage and tugged Natalie along with her.

The carriage ride was bumpy and long, but the laughing and chatting from her friends made it a little less bearable for Rosie; it was really begining to hit hard how much she was feeling. She was so confused and had no idea why. She could see the friendly, warm, bright lights of the castle and her heart was begining to fill with almost a homesickness (the kind of releife you get when you get home after a long holiday), and she zoned out of her friends conversations and focused on how much better everything would be once she got inside the grey stone walls of the castle. Once she was inside, the healing echoes of growing up studying magic would fill her again, she wouldn't need to reminisce on how pathetic she had felt when she was with David; all she needed now was a reason to fight again. A reason to be zealous and heavy handed. Something she could do and do well. Something she could be passionate about. Something... something extraodinary.

The carriages stopped at the main gate on one side of the school, a long walk approached all of the students and Rosie nearly jumped out of the horseless carriage while it was still moving. She pulled Albus out of the carriage with her, and Layla fell out after being so brutally shoved by Albus in his attempt to follow without being killed. She flug him towards the school, her face beaming, her eyes alive again. Albus knew the whole story, from start to finish, and knew that she needed someone to listen without her having to talk; she was a cunundrum like that. A living contradiction of silence and a timultous storm all in one person. At the moment, she was a storm of energy with no words to speak. She didn't speak when she was trying to hide the hurt, and Albus had seen the breakdown during the summer and had done his best to fix whatever he could of Rosie. Two problems being; one, Rosie never liked to be helped, she was as stubborn as a muel; two, how could one possibly try to help someone who didn't like talking about her problems unless she had to.

Rosie pulled them all along the path on the walk up to Hogwarts, leading the way on her own, all of her friends rediculously sluggish and tired. She was starting to feel just how hungry she had become on the train, remembering how long she had slept for, realising that she must have been asleep when the woman with the trolley came along selling cakes, and biscuits and drinks. Her stomach gave a hungry pang, and she felt cravings for chicken legs, pizza, pumpkin juice, profiterole gateux and ice. She had to admit, that as much as she loved her aunt, whom she had spent the entire summer living with; she wasn't terribly good at cooking, and the whole summer long she had had cravings and pangs for the food served at the start of year feast at Hogwarts. Realising just how hungry she was, she walked faster, eager to see other friendly faces in the great hall and to finally be able to eat- skipping out lunch was never a good idea.

She found herself quite a distance away from her friends, but her legs carried her all the way into the entrance hall, and into the great hall, leading her to the bare plain wooden table that was begining to overflow with Gryffindors. There she took her seat where she, Albus and Natalie had took residence every day since their first year. She sat squarely at the table, avoiding looking over at the Ravenclaw table where she could see a dark mass of short curls and a smug face. she didn't want to see that. She just wanted her friends over with her, and to be able to finally start eating. She looked past the Ravenclaw table, to the far side of the room from the Gryffindors. Blue-grey tint eyes cut through the gaping space between the two tables, watching her intently, the eyes brushed gently by silverly blonde locks of hair, and set into a pale, chislled face. She blinked, confused, and found herself giving a little smile at the concern Scorpius' eyes.

"You okay Weasley?" he mouthed to her. She was confused. What did it matter to him if she was okay or not? But she nodded, blinkng back tears she hadn't quite finished shedding on the train. Mouthing back a small thanks in his direction and pretended there had been no interaction between the two of them as her friends came towards her, taking their places at various parts of the hall.

The common room was always quiet in the morining, first thing before breakfast, and Rosie Weasley seemed to be the only Gryffindor up and out of bed, and completely ready for the day. She was dressed in uniform, her charcoal grey pleated skirt a few inches above her knee, her white school shirt crisp and ironed, her red and gold tie fastened and garnished with her crimson prefect badge. Her brown, curling locks sat relatively straight today, down and just brushing the halfway point of her back, just past her shoulder blades. She hauled her bag over her shoulder and walked quickly out of the portrait hole. She trudged down the marble staircase and found her way to the entrance hall.

She'd missed Hogwarts during the summer, of course she'd enjoyed the break from school work, but these cold grey castle walls held so many fond memeories for Rosie, and coming back was like meeting up with an old friend after years appart. After a minute or two in the entrance hall Rosie pushed open one of the huge heavy doors that lead into the great hall. The hall had four very long dark wooden tables, one for each house, and at this time in the morning they'd be overflowing with breakfast. Rosie floated over to the Gryffindor table and sat with her back against one of the fires that were lined against the walls of the hall. She sat quite still, letting the glow of the fire warm her back. She picked up a couple of peices of toast from the rack infront of her, and smothered them in butter, plonking them on a white china plate, and helping herself to a large mound of scrambled eggs from a golden bowl that sat so conveniently next to a jar full of cutlery. She helped her self, and found some orange juice was not too far off from her hand either. She poured a large glass full, not noticing as she poured that someone had come into the great hall. She made a start on her breakfast staring at the eggs as she played with them around her plate, and only looked up when she realised a figure had sat down infront of her. There infront of her on the Gryffindor table, was the pale, face with a crooked smile that could only belong to one person in the entirity of existance.

"Hey, Rosie," he smiled at her, that crooked smile that Rosie knew had only been the clever and intricate lips of Scorpius Malfoy, "you seemed really out of it last night. Is everything okay?" he asked, genuine concern lingeredin his tone. Rosie didn't knowhow to take this new spin on Malfoy, but for some reason really liked the attention from him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Didn't know you cared Malfoy." she said staring into him, she wasn't sure how to respond to the caring side of him. She was used to his harsh outer layer, that made him unapproachable and cocky. She was sure that this was just a phase, and that tomorrow he'd be back to his normal irratating self. She gave her morning smile, she couldn't helpit coming out maybe a little softer than she had ineded to be towards Malfoy at the begining of summer, but she was sure he had had being rude to her on his mind too.

"Of course I do, Rosie," he said, looking at her as if what she had said had hurt him, her chest felt tight and yet light at the same time, "it looked like someone had upset you, and no-one gets on Wealey'snerves but mine." he winked. She wasn't sure how to take that. But smiled at him, and felt herself start to blush. Her smile began to get a litle neverous, and hoping Scorpius couldn'tsee it, she stared at her breakfast, intent on not letting him see her face a violent magenta, and played nervously with the end of a lock of her hair.

"Erm,thanks, Scorpius. That's, nice... of you." she faltered a little on her words. She had een thinking about how rude she had been to him in the bookstore and felt a little guilty. Perhaps all he had wanted out of the incident in question was a conversation? She lookedup and smiled at him again, he winked back to her over his shoulder as he walked away.


End file.
